The subject matter disclosed herein relates to a system and method for identifying a needle insertion location, and more specifically, for automatically providing a visual indication of the needle insertion location during a procedure performed in coordination with a medical diagnostic image, such as a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) image.
As is known to those skilled in the art, an MRI system alternately generates a strong magnetic field and then detects the faint nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) signals given off by nuclei in the presence of the magnetic field. The NMR signals vary as a function of the type of organ, bone, tissue, etc. . . . present within the magnetic field. The NMR signals are received by antennas, also known as coils, and transmitted to the MRI scanner for reconstruction into an MRI image. Specifically, an anatomical region of a patient is located within the magnetic field and proximate to the antennas. The MRI scanner reconstructs the NMR signals into an MRI image corresponding to the anatomical region of the patient being imaged.
For reference, an exemplary MRI scan room 2 and control room 3 are illustrated in FIG. 1. The MRI scan room 2 is connected to the MRI control room 3 via a door 6 and typically provides a window 4 from which the MRI technician may observe the MRI procedure. A patient is positioned on an MRI table 7, a portion of which may be slid into a bore of an MRI scanner 1. The MRI scanner 1 is controlled via a control unit 5, such as a computer executing control software, located in the control room 3.
In some medical procedures an MRI scanner may be used to facilitate positioning the patient and/or a medical instrument during the procedure. For example, a biopsy procedure may be administered with the aid of an MRI scanner. The patient is positioned on a table and the anatomical region from which a biopsy sample is to be obtained may be immobilized. The MRI scanner obtains an MRI image of the anatomical region and an MRI radiologist identifies the location within the image from which the biopsy sample is to be taken. This location is recorded and the coordinates recorded on a worksheet. The MRI radiologist, or other medical personnel, may use the coordinates to locate the insertion point for the biopsy needle on the immobilized anatomical region. Optionally, the region may be reimaged with the biopsy needle inserted to verify that the needle is at the correct location and/or to make adjustments to the position of the biopsy needle prior to obtaining the biopsy sample from the patient.
However, the process of identifying the biopsy location and positioning the biopsy needle is not without drawbacks. The process of transferring the biopsy location from an MRI image to a worksheet and using the worksheet to identify the needle insertion location on the patient has a risk of error. Further, the process is time consuming and may require repetition to precisely locate the needle within the desired biopsy location. Thus, it would be desirable to provide a system to automatically identify a biopsy location and to automatically present a visual indication of the identified location to medical personnel.